State Attorney General John Suthers announced Monday that all 64 of Colorado's county clerks must soon begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision earlier in the day declining to hear appeals from five states regarding same-sex marriage bans.

Within hours of the court's decision, Pueblo County issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple, and shortly after Larimer County's clerk announced her office would also begin issuing the licenses.

Ironically, Boulder Count Clerk Hillary Hall — who was the first Colorado county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples earlier this year — said her office will have to wait to resume gay marriages until a stay issued by the state Supreme Court is lifted.

Hall tweeted Monday morning that the ruling was "great news" and later tweeted that once the state Supreme Court stay is lifted, she would resume issuing the licenses.

"Hope to be issuing licenses soon," Hall tweeted. "Mandate from 10th Circuit lifting stay issued, now just need CO Supreme Crt (sic) to do the same and we proudly resume issuing licenses to all."

Officials with the clerk's office on Monday did not have a timeline as to when that might happen.

"Our office will resume issuing same-sex marriage licenses once the legal formalities in Colorado are resolved," Mircalla Wozniak, a spokeswoman with the Boulder County Clerk's Office, said in a statement.

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Boulder County was the first county to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples this year, but specifically is currently under an order from the state Supreme Court not to issue any more of them.

Hall began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples June 25 in response to a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. She issued more than 200 before the state's highest court ordered her to stop July 29 in response to a filing by Suthers, one of several legal battles against same-sex marriage Suthers won.

Suthers (Ed Andrieski)

But those legal battles appear to have come to an end in Colorado. In a statement released Monday morning, Suthers said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling "clears the way for same-sex couples to legally wed in Colorado once stay orders have been lifted."

"We have consistently maintained that we will abide by the Supreme Court's determination on the constitutionality of marriage laws," Suthers said in the statement. "By choosing not to take up the matter, the court has left the 10th Circuit ruling in place. We expect the 10th Circuit will issue a final order governing Colorado very shortly. Once the formalities are resolved, clerks across the state must begin issuing marriage licenses to all same-sex couples.

Monday afternoon, Suther's office, the Governor's Office and the Adams, Boulder, Denver and Jefferson County clerks filed joint motions to lift stays in the 10th Circuit and Colorado Supreme Court.

Suthers previously tried to stop Hall in two other courts and was unsuccessful both times. He filed suit in Boulder District Court seeking an emergency injunction, but Judge Andrew Hartman twice denied the motion. The Colorado Court of Appeals also upheld Hartman's ruling after Suthers filed an appeal.

Shortly after Hartman's initial ruling, Hall was joined by clerks in Denver and Pueblo counties in issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

Stacey Nowlin and Leona Rogers were first to receive their same-sex marriage license in Pueblo on Monday, Oct. 6, 2014. (Courtesy the Pueblo County Clerk)

But on July 18, the state Supreme Court issued a stay to stop Denver from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in connection with a joint Denver/Adams County case.

Pueblo voluntarily stopped issuing marriage licenses to gay couples after legal threats from Suthers, leaving Boulder County as the last county issuing them before the state Supreme Court intervened.

Rejecting appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively made such marriages legal in 30 states, up from 19 and the District of Columbia.

Directly affected by Monday's orders were Wisconsin, Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia. Officials in those states had appealed lower court rulings in an effort to preserve their bans.

Aside from Colorado, couples in five other states — Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming — should be able to get married in short order since those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that had been on hold pending appeals.

Donnie Herrington and his husband Justin Jones prepare dinner together at their Longmont home on Monday. The two — they moved here from Oklahoma to take advantage of the more liberal marriage laws — were married at the Boulder County Clerk and Recorders Office on June 26, just days before Clerk Hillary Hall was ordered to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Hall hopes to begin issuing the licenses again soon following a U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday. (Paul Aiken)

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